History of Great Lakes Car Ferries

A Brief History of the Great Lakes Railroad Car Ferries
Great Lakes Car Ferry Fleets
Detroit & St. Clair Rivers
Canadian National Railways
Buffalo & Lake Huron Ry
Great Western Ry
Grand Trunk Ry
Michigan Central RR - NYC
Wabash Ry - N&W - NS
Pere Marquette RR - C&O - Chessie System
Canadian Pacific Ry
Straits of Mackinac
The Mackinac Transportation Company (GR&I/PRR + MC/NYC + DSS&A/Soo)
Lake Michigan
The Ann Arbor RR - Michigan Interstate
Pere Marquette RR - C&O - Chessie System - Wisconsin & Michigan
Manistique Marquette and Northern RR.
The Lake Michigan Carferry Transportation Co.
Lake Erie
United States & Ontario Steam Navigation Co.
Marquette & Bessemer Dock & Navigation Co.
Pennsylvania-Ontario Transportation Co.
Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo Navigation Co.
The Michigan & Ohio Car Ferry Co.
Lake Ontario
The Ontario Car Ferry Co. Ltd.
Lake Superior
Incan Superior
Chicago River
Erie RR
Basic information on all pages is from: Hilton; The Great Lakes Car Ferries.
Lake Michigan Car Ferry Routes
Railroad
From
To
Railway
Started Ended
Ann Arbor
Elberta-Frankfort
Manistique
Manistique & Lake Superior
1895
1968
Ann Arbor
Elberta-Frankfort
Escanaba+Gladstone
Soo Line
1895
1902
Ann Arbor
Elberta-Frankfort
Kewauanee
Green Bay & Western (KGB&W)
1892
1982
Ann Arbor
Elberta-Frankfort
Manitowoc
Soo Line (WC) + C&NW
1896
1982
Ann Arbor
Elberta-Frankfort
Menominee
C&NW + MILW + W&M
1894
1970
Pere Marquette-C&O
Ludington
Kewaunee
Green Bay & Western (KGB&W)
1903
1990
Pere Marquette-C&O
Ludington
Manitowoc
Soo Line (W) + C&NW
1897
1982
Pere Marquette-C&O
Ludington
Milwaukee
C&NW + MILW
1900
1980
Grand Trunk Western
Grand Haven
Milwaukee
MIlW + C&NW
1905
1933
Grand Trunk Western
Muskegon
Milwaukee
C&NW + MILW
1933
1975
Lake Michigan Carferry South Chicago CRI&P
Peshtigo Harbor
Wisconsin & Michigan + CNW + MiILW
DGR&W-PM
Milwaukee
MILW + C&NW
1897
1900
Pennsylvania (MM&N) Northport
Manistique
Manistique Marquette & Northern RR
1903
1906
1904
1908
MM&N-PM
Ludington
Manistique
Manistique Marquette & Northern RR
1904
1906
Erie RR
Chicago River S Branch to Chicago River N Branch Erie RR freight station
1913
1936
1888
1984
Muskegon
GR&I + MC
Mackinac City
PRR + NYC/MN/ D&M
Abbreviations:
C&NW
C&O
D&M
DGR&W
MILW
MM&N
MTC
PM
W&M
WC
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
St Ignace
DSS&A / Soo
Chicago & North Western RR
Chesapeake & Ohio RR
Detroit & Mackinaw RR
Detroit Grand Rapids & Western, a Pere Marquette predecessor.
Milwaukee RR
Manistique, Marquette & Northern RR
Mackinac Transportation Co.
Pere Marquette, a Chesapeake & Ohio RR predecessor.
Wisconsin & Michigan RR
Wisconsin Central a Soo Line predecessor
Detroit & St. Clair River Car Ferry Routes
Great Western Ry - Canadian National in Windsor to Grand Trunk Western in Detroit.
Canadian National / Grand Trunk (of Canada) in Sarnia, ON to Grand Trunk Western in Port Huron.
Michigan Central in Detroit to Michigan Central in Windsor, ON.
Pere Marquette - C&O in Detroit to PM-C&O + Canadian Pacific in Windsor.
Wabash-N&W-NS in Detroit to Wabash + Canadian National in Windsor.
(The variants carferry and car ferry are both used depending on the company)
(Mackinaw refers to the City; Mackinac refers to the Straits, the Island, the Bridge and to the Detroit & Mackinac Railroad.
Lake Erie Car Ferry Routes
Railroad
From
RR
To
RR
Michigan & Ohio Car Ferry Co
Sandusky
B&O
Detroit & Windsor
GT Ry 1897
1898
Marquette & Bessemer Dock & Navigation!
Conneaut!
B&LE! Erieau! !
!
PM!
1903!
1927
Marquette & Bessemer Dock & Navigation!
Conneaut!
B&LE! Port Stanley!
!
L&PS! 1903!
1932
Pennsylvania-Ontario Transportation Co.!
Ashtabula!
PRR!
Port Burwell!
!
CP!
1906!
1958
Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Navigation Co.!
Ashtabula!
NYC!
Port Maitland!
!
TH&B ! 1916!
1932
Buffalo & Lake Huron!
Buffalo! !
Erie!
Fort Erie!
!
B&LH! 1858!
1873
Conneaut!
B&LE! Port Dover!
!
GT Ry ! 1895!
1903
!
!
!
United States & Ontario Steam Navigation !
Abbreviations
B&O!
B&LE!
PRR !
NYC !
GT Ry!
PM!
L&PS!
CP!
TH&B!
B&LH!
=!
=!
=!
=!
=!
=!
=!
=!
=!
=!
Baltimore & Ohio RR
Bessemer & Lake Erie RR
Pennsylvania RR
New York Central RR
Grand Trunk Ry (Canada)
Pere Marquette RR
London & Port Stanley RR (Canada - Electric)
Canadian Pacific RR
Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo RR
Buffalo & Lake Huron RR (Canada)
C&O’s Port Huron-Sarnia carferry “Pere Marquette 10”.
1965 photo by Mark Cowles taken from the Str. LaSalle
Started Ended
Sources and References
Ann Arbor Railroad Technical!
and Historical Association!
!
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The Double A: The Journal of the Ann Arbor Railroad Technical
Association. Various issues.
Bergtorf, Francis D.!
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Chief Wawatam: The Story of a Hand Bomber. Cheboygan, MI 1976
Boles, Frank!
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FerryBoat Railroad: Michigan’s Ann Arbor Railroad published in
the Chronicle. The Hisorical Society of Michigan, Summer 2005.
Cowles, W. C.! !
!
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Photo and post card collections.
Elve, Steven D.!!
!
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Rails Across the Water: The Story of Ann Arbor Car Ferries. Lowell, MI 1984.
Fredecickson, Arthur C. &!
Lucy F.! !
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Early History of the Ann Arbor Carferries. Frankfort, MI 1949
Later History of the Ann Arbor Carferries, Boats 6 & 7. Frankfort, MI 1951
Revised Edition Pictorial History of the C&O Train and Auto Ferries
and Pere Marquette Line Steamers. Grand Rapids, 1965
Hilton, George W.!
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The Great Lakes Car Ferries. Berkley, Howell-North Books 1962.
Out of Print, but a revised edition has been published.
Hornstein, Hugh A.!
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The Fate of Annies Ferry and Other Lake Michigan Railroad
Car Ferries. ©2000. Published in the Double A, vol. 21, no. 1, Summer 2005.
Krieger, Michael!!
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Where Rails Meet The Sea. America’s Connections Between Ships
Trains. New York 1998
Laben Productions!
!
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Video: Badger; Flagship for a Dream. 1997 Color, 30 min.
LeLievre, Roger!!
!
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Know Your Ships. Marine Publishing Co. Inc. Annual Publication
Mackinaw Area Historical!
Society!!
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Crossing the Straits for the Past 100 Years. With 32 Descriptive
Ready-to-Mail Postcards Selected from the Archives of the
Mackinaw Area Historical Society.
Marine Historical Society!
of Detroit!
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Ahoy & Farewell I.!
Detroit 2001.
Ahoy & Farewell II!
Detroit 1996
Detroit Marine Historian. Monthly Journal, ed. Jim Jackson and
Mike Nicholls. Detroit. Various issues.
Mark Howell Productions!
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!
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Video: Before the Bridge: The Story of the Mackinac Straits Ferries
1998. Color and B&W. 55 min.
Michigan Transit Museum!
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Video: Tracks Down Michigan, Program #6 - Floating Railways
Part One - Detroit & St. Clair Rivers WHH TV Productions 1999
Color and B&W, about 50 min.
Rantanes, Eli and Sebastian-!
!
Railroading Along the Waterfront. Milwaukee: William K. Walthers 1997.
Techmoeller, John editor!
!
Transfer. Newsletter for the Rail-Marine Information Group. Various issues.
Zimmerman, Karl!
!
Lake Michigan Railroad Car Ferries. Andover, NJ 1993.
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